1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a force-feedback supply apparatus and an image correcting method in the force-feedback supply apparatus, and more specifically to a force-feedback supply apparatus and an image correcting method in the force-feedback supply apparatus used for a virtual reality system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As conventional force-feedback supply apparatuses, a force-feedback supply apparatus using actuators such as motors and clutches (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-246674), a force-feedback supply apparatus using fluids such as air or liquid (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-99240), a force-feedback supply apparatus using wires and electric motors reeling the wires (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-324622), and so on are disclosed. Each of these express interactions between an operator and a target object using elasticity and viscosity.
However, in a case where force-feedback supply sections are mounted to cover sites (for example, fingertips, etc.) to which the force-feedback is supplied as in the conventional force-feedback supply apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-99240 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 6-324622, when positions of the sites are detected to fetch the sites in a virtual reality image, there is a problem that in consideration of volumes or thicknesses thereof, the sites should be displayed in a virtual reality space.
That is, in the conventional force-feedback supply apparatus, since the virtual reality image is generated and displayed without consideration of the thickness or the like of the force-feedback supply section, when it is intended that a target object thinner than the thickness of the force-feedback supply section in the virtual reality space, for example, a paper, etc. is gripped (grabbed), there are disadvantages that the virtual reality image cannot be properly displayed by using the positional information of the fingertips actually detected (that is, it cannot be displayed to grasp the paper with the fingertips), and the interactions between the sites and the target objects cannot be supplied (that is, since it cannot be judged that the sites interfere with the target object, a force-feedback suitable for the target object cannot be supplied).
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a feedback supply apparatus and an image correcting method, in which a site to which a force-feedback is supplied can be properly displayed in accordance with a virtual reality image by correcting a virtual reality image in consideration of a thickness of the site to which the force-feedback is supplied in a virtual reality space.